[This story contains spoilers for season three of Netflix‘s My Life With the Walter Boys.]
“I always knew how it was going to end,” Ashby Gentry tells The Hollywood Reporter when reflecting on the love triangle being resolved come season three of Netflix’s My Life With the Walter Boys.
For the show’s first two seasons, Gentry’s character Alex has an on-and-off-and-on-again relationship with Nikki Rodriguez’s Jackie, the New York teen who now lives with the Walter family, close family friends, after losing her parents and sister in a car accident. But despite getting back together in season two, the finale ended on a cliffhanger of Alex overhearing Jackie confess her love to his brother Cole. Season three sees the trio navigate that confession early on, with Jackie and Alex ending things and Alex moving on. Their relationship end was “the logical conclusion,” Gentry says.
“I never viewed this as a serious love triangle, in my opinion,” he tells THR. “To me, the story is very clear that she is in love with Cole, but has love for Alex.”
But Alex may have found himself in another love triangle this season after having evolved feelings for his best friend Kylie (Mya Lowe), who is dating jock Dylan (Kolton Stewart).
“Ashby thinks probably better not to home wreck someone’s relationship,” he says when reacting to Alex’s possible brewing romance. “I told the writers this. I was like, ‘You guys made him too good, Dylan. You made him too good of a guy.’ I like Dylan! I’m rooting for Dylan, and I should not be rooting for Dylan.”
If things weren’t already complicated enough for Alex, season three also sees Alex navigate his love for saddle bronc rodeo riding but having friction with fellow riders. “He’s figuring out what he wants and what he wants to do in the world, and he’s trying to make himself feel good at something for once,” Gentry says.
Gentry spoke with THR about his character’s season three journey, Alex’s possible new romance with Kiley (and where Dylan fits in) and Alex’s big decision regarding his place in professional rodeo.
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So season three kicks off right where the season two cliffhanger left us: George having a stroke and being in the hospital and Alex hearing that love confession from Jackie to Cole. After hearing that confession, what did you feel Alex needed the most? Did he even want answers or just closure?
I don’t think anybody knows what they need in those moments. I feel like he probably was just really hurt, and feeling jaded. In a way, the situation with George is a bit of a luxury for Alex because it just provides the distance and the space from that to allow him to process it. Sometimes intellectualizing things too quickly can lead you down the wrong path. I honestly just think he’s really hurt, and I don’t know what the way forward is through that.
Last season Alex had a colder defense mechanism, but this time he seems more accepting of Jackie and Cole and seemingly ready to try to actually move on. What did you make of his response and initial interactions with Jackie and Cole?
I think he’s choosing to give her [Jackie] grace because he understands the depth of her loss. I don’t think he’s necessarily apologizing for her, but he’s excusing it because he understands the place she’s coming from, for the first time on an intimate level, which is a very mature thing to do. It doesn’t excuse what she’s done, yet I think he gets that she’s been through a lot, and sometimes when people go through grief, they do things that aren’t easily explainable. I think he understands that.
How do you see Jackie and Alex’s relationship going forward given they can’t maintain that same emotional connection and there’s more distance needed?
I think she kills the part of him that’s romantically in love with her, and I think it’s more of a familial love. Oftentimes when a romantic relationship ends, it doesn’t mean you stop caring about that person holistically. Your paths go in divergent directions. I think he just loves her as a family member, which she is now. It’s kind of weird.
What about Alex and Cole’s dynamic this season?
They bond over their shared affection for Jackie. I also think he’s just over it. He’s moving on and to truly move on is to not hold those grudges. I don’t necessarily know that that’s an irreparable rupture in the relationship but life goes on. You have to keep it moving.
After being in the love triangle for the last two seasons, what is it like to now be removed from it? Do you feel relieved not having to navigate that anymore?
It feels like the logical conclusion. I always knew how it was going to end. When watching people choose, you can’t buy into it when you’re aware. It’s like a magician. When you know how the trick works, it doesn’t have the same effect on you. So to me, it’s kind of like, duh, it’s over. I never viewed this as a serious love triangle, in my opinion. To me, the story is very clear that she is in love with Cole, but has love for Alex. Sometimes you don’t get to decide. I think if she could choose logically, she would choose Alex, but that’s not how it works. So there’s relief to some degree, but I think the biggest relief is just not having to propagate this idea that [there’s] real choice. It’s not a real choice. You can tell from the first episode, in my opinion, that it’s not a real choice.
Well, there was someone that did like Alex from the beginning. He just didn’t notice. Kylie has always been there as a potential love interest, but now has a boyfriend in Dylan. Do you think Alex was still blinded by Kylie’s feeling she had for him or do you think he ever realizes that she does like him, and maybe he just doesn’t want to confront that?
That was a good question, and we kind of discussed that while we were shooting. There was a moment when we do kiss that we kind of deliberated over whether or not he [Alex] takes a step in and kisses her, or if he’s just close enough already and kisses her. It seems like a small, trivial movement but in my opinion, if he takes a step, that’s a clear, conscious choice. If he’s close enough as it is, there’s room for it to be [them] caught up in the moment and on accident. I think he does realize in that moment. I just think he realizes all at once. He sort of knew it subconsciously, but it just had never been made conscious until that moment. And then he realizes he’s an idiot.
Do you think that’s also the moment that he realizes he has feelings as well?
Yeah, 100 percent. I don’t relate to that experience at all, by the way. There’s no universe in which I wouldn’t know I was in love with someone before I did something like that.
Dylan gives a subtle warning for Alex to stay away from Kylie, but Alex was still close to confessing his evolved feelings for her. Where do you see him and Kylie go from here? Do you agree with their friendship turning into more?
Ashby thinks probably better not to home wreck someone’s relationship. I told the writers this. I was like, “You guys made him too good, Dylan. You made him too good of a guy.” I like Dylan! I’m rooting for Dylan, and I should not be rooting for Dylan. They [the writers] don’t listen to me, but I don’t really advise him to continue. Truthfully, Kylie’s not been very honest about her feelings, and probably shouldn’t have dated Dylan in the first place when she knew she was in love with Alex. I can’t really condone what Alex is doing. In good conscience, I can’t confidently say that I support that. This stuff is tough. I don’t know what the right answer is. I think this whole thing is a mess. Thank God they go to college and get away from it all. You kind of get a pass with these things when you’re young because you’re figuring it out. You’ll go to college and be able to start fresh. I just wish them all the best in doing so.
Romantic life aside, Alex dealt with another drama in his life with his attempts to fit in with the rodeo crew. What did you make of Alex’s struggle with trying to fit in?
I think he’s a kid. I think he’s obviously scared, feeling bullied and feeling peer pressured. He’s figuring out what he wants and what he wants to do in the world, and he’s trying to make himself feel good at something for once. I don’t think he feels that way given his romantic history, and it’s just not the right place for him, which sucks. I think he has a passion, is talented at rodeo, and it does improve his confidence, but I think he realizes at what cost? He looks at their lives and realizes that’s not a path he wants to go down.
What did you make of his decision to ultimately step away?
I feel bad for him, truthfully, because it’s tough to know what’s not for you when you haven’t found what is for you. It’s just another loss for him, and he’s undergone a lot of that. I hope Alex finds his way in this world, and especially at a young age, to incur so much defeat and loss can be really psychologically damaging for someone, so I wish him the best. I feel bad for him.
Well, he was close to having a tattoo to always remind him.
I know! I believe he has half a tattoo on his arm still. We’ve had some discussions about whether or not that tattoo is still present right now or not. I went to makeup yesterday, and I said, “You know, I think he should still have half the tattoo on his arm.” But technically, I don’t know. I gotta check in on the tattoo situation! Maybe I’ll throw a line in there, “This hurt more than going to get my tattoo removed.”
Alex’s parents later acknowledge that Alex has a talent for being what they dubbed a “horse whisperer.” Do you see him realizing that new career potential for the future?
I think horses are a lot simpler than teenage girls, and so just be around them! This horse whisperer phrase has been thrown around by everyone. It’s funny. I actually really love those scenes when I watched them back. I thought they were really sweet, and it’s so nice to see someone who’s been damaged reconcile with an animal. That’s why they have therapy dogs and stuff; Nature’s indifference really helps in a way. I’m pro horse whisperer arc, and I think he’s just good at that. It’s instinctual to him. It makes it hard for me because I don’t ride horses except on the show, and so I do my best to seem like a natural, but it’s tough.
Before this show, have you really ever interacted with horses?
Not really! I’ve learned a lot, and I have a great relationship with my horse on the show, Copper, who plays Murphy. He remembers me usually. So we’ll see if he does now. He remembered me the past few seasons. I get on his back and he’s like, “Oh, I know you.” We have a good relationship. He used to be really moody with me, and now he’s much more well behaved. But it depends on the day. They’re really sensitive, but so is Alex!
I imagine it’s more fun to do horseback riding training rather than the rodeo?
It’s more fun because I can do it. I am not allowed to do the rodeo stuff. We had a moment in season three where there’s a bareback riding sequence where he has this glove and he’s strapped in, and I really got on my horse and was strapped in and everything. He was kind of agitated in the pen and bolted out of the gate with me still on him, and I think he started to buck. And then — they’re called the pickup men — these two guys on horses came in and I pulled my glove out and grabbed onto one of them and got off. But it was a close call. When I got off the horse, the crew was dead silent. Everybody was panicking.
Were you panicking?
No. We had a couple close calls shooting season three; I’m pretty locked in until afterwards. Once it’s over, my heart will start racing, and I’ll get sweaty, and I’ll be like, “Oh man, that could have been really bad.” I wonder what Tom Cruise would do. I truthfully ask this question because I know he likes to do all his own stunts. But there’s production insurance. I’m not allowed to do it.
Walter Boys was already renewed for season four. What do you see for Alex’s journey next?
Oh man, I think he’s just picking up the pieces. He’s very much still in the thick of it. It’s not nearly resolved enough for him to recognize any of it consciously. I think he’s got to find his way through this, and I hope there is some resolution for him. I don’t really want this to be a story of pure loss. I don’t think that’s interesting. I think it’s so interesting to watch someone struggle for a theme or message or purpose. I hope it’s not all in vain.
My Life With the Walter Boys is available to stream on Netflix.
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